1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an immobilizer receiver for an outboard motor, and more particularly, relates to an immobilizer receiver for an outboard motor that is suitable to be retrofitted to a hull.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many watercrafts are tied up and kept on the ocean, a lake, or a river. Thus, a watercraft with an outboard motor as a propulsion unit may get stolen as long as an engine of the outboard motor can be started. Considering the above issue, immobilizer systems that have been widely used for two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles have also been introduced to watercrafts in relation to recent electronic control of the outboard motor including the engine. As it has been widely known, the immobilizer system receives an authentication code from a transmitter called a transponder (repeater) and, for example, permits the activation of the engine only when the code is authorized. Various changes can be made to control settings of the immobilizer system by an electronic control unit for the outboard motor that includes the engine after the authentication of the code, and can also be made between a user and a dealer in outboard motors and watercrafts, for example. A variety of methods to authenticate the authentication code are described in JP-A-2006-175999.
When the receiver of the immobilizer system is mounted to the hull by so-called retrofitting, it is particularly difficult to mount an antenna wire for reception and an answer-back buzzer that informs the authentication of the authentication code. When the hull is made of metal, and the antenna wire is too close to the hull, the antenna wire cannot receive the authentication code. In addition, because of poor resistance to water, the answer-back buzzer may malfunction once it gets wet. Thus, there has been a demand for an immobilizer receiver for an outboard motor that can easily be mounted to a hull and secure a receiving function while avoiding or solving the above problems.